Statistics Canada says most of the new placements were created in Ontario, but B.C. was the next most prolific, pumping nearly 20,000 jobs into the economy.

The national unemployment rate did not budge from its January setting of seven per cent, and Stats Can says B.C.'s rate also stood firm at 6.3 per cent last month.

Number crunchers had been predicting creation of a scant eight-thousand jobs across Canada in February — and say the healthy new numbers are especially impressive because the positions are mainly full-time, private sector jobs — the most secure type of new employment.